President Trump is set to meet with the top four leaders in Congress on Monday ahead of a Tuesday shutdown deadline, a notable shift after he canceled a meeting with Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) earlier in the week.
Schumer, Jeffries, Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) and Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) will meet with Trump at the White House on Monday, according to three sources familiar with the meeting. Punchbowl News first reported the meeting. Schumer called Thune on Friday and urged him to get Trump to meet because the deadline for a government shutdown is fast approaching, according to an aide to the Senate minority leader.
"President Trump has once again agreed to a meeting in the Oval Office," Schumer and Jeffries said in a joint statement. "As we have repeatedly said, Democrats will meet anywhere, at any time and with anyone to negotiate a bipartisan spending agreement that meets the needs of the American people. We are resolute in our determination to avoid a government shutdown and address the Republican healthcare crisis. Time is running out."
Government funding runs out after Sept. 30, prompting a government shutdown starting Wednesday unless Congress acts. Any measure will need bipartisan support because it takes 60 votes to overcome a filibuster in the Senate — requiring support from at least seven Senate Democrats.
The House earlier this month passed a Republican-crafted “clean” continuing resolution (CR) to fund the government until Nov. 21, which the Senate promptly rejected.
Congressional Democrats have called on Republicans to address issues like Affordable Care Act subsidies that expire at the end of the calendar year, or to roll back Medicaid cuts signed into law in Republicans’ megabill earlier this year.
Republicans argue those are unrelated issues that should be addressed separately, and call some asks unreasonable.
Last week, Trump scheduled, but then canceled, a meeting with the two Democratic leaders to talk about the looming shutdown. The cancellation came after Johnson and Thune had talked to him about the GOP CR and Democratic requests, according to one leadership source.
Jeffries held daily news conferences last week criticizing Trump for nixing the meeting — calling out, at one point, Trump’s Friday visit to the Ryder Cup on Long Island.
“He didn’t have the time to meet with Democratic leaders and fund the government and address the Republican health care crisis, but Donald Trump right now, as we speak, is at a golf event?” Jeffries said Friday.
Johnson canceled previously-scheduled voting days in the House on Sept. 29 and 30 as he aims to jam Senate Democrats into accepting the House-passed stopgap.
Updated at 8:30 p.m. EDT
Source: The Hill - News
